Cromeleque dos Almendres

I've been to visit this cromeleque twice yet the only time I took a camera a storm rolled in, making for a more atmospheric but less detailed picture. Better detail is in the photo below taken by my predecessor who didn't bring the rain like I seem to. The long axis of the cromelque is aligned in the direction of the town in the background (Evora). Significantly the shadows cast at sunset point directly towards Evora at the equinox.

As explained by the info board at the site:

The Megalithic enclosure of Almendres, one of the first public monuments to be erected in human history, comprises the largest group of menhirs to be erected on the Iberian peninsula and one of the most important in Europe. It was a monument which had religious functions and was probably also a primitive astronomical observatory.

This monument originally consisted of over a hundred monoliths. Recent excavations have detected various phases of construction throughout the Neolithic period (5000 to 4000 BC).

There are 92 menhirs with differenst shapes and dimensions, some small rudely shaped blocks, others of greater size. They form two enclosures erected in different, distinct eras, twinned and aligned in accordance with the equinoxes. Ten of the monoliths are decorated , exhibiting reliefs or engravings, with four of them just displaying dimple marks."

Primitive religious functions = fertility rites, so no-one tell Bry I touched a menhir :)